Why do "Do it yourself meals..."

My wife is away tonight, shopping in Indy with my daughter for dress for a wedding we have next week...so I'm "batching it" tonight on the last day of my vacation...(SHE had to work all week, that kinda sucked!)

So this morning I'm thinking CRAP, I have to fix my own dinner....

Then it hits me...I have to fix my own DINNER!

To the freezer, dig through the few packages of venison left....
Hhmmmnnn...."Nice Hind Roast Big Doe 07" ...put it out to thaw....

(also took out one pack of of "Dog Meat" some venison scraps I saved to boil for the dogs, I hope I never get RAIDED or somebody will think I'm Cambodian or something if they see THOSE pacakages... )

Also found a pack of "Stew meat" from my '06 Buck...missed THAT one, oh well, if it smells good the dogs can have that TOO!

So then comes the "what kind of veggie", and lo and behold there are the second two nice young fresh zucchini I've picked from my (almost planted too late) garden yesterday....

The ROAST thawed nicely, and cut into 4 NICE 1" thick sirloins...

The Zucchini went into the pot to boil, NOTHING better or easier than my Mom's old "Brown Sugar Zucchini!!

Another pot to boil the "dog Meat," with a little salt (they like it that way.... )

A little Garlic salt, then a bunch of black peeper on the steaks, then to the GRILL nice and hot seared black but RARE and RED and JUICY in the middle....

Drain the squash, stir in some brown sugar...

GOSH, I forgot the POTATOES but oh well, I can't believe I ate all FOUR steaks, the Zuchini pot is drained clean,and my two Lab mixes and my daughter's border collie mix we are babysitting are laying around with licking their lips with SMILES on their face from the boiled up venison and juice on their food they just gobbled up... .... WE are ALL stuffed!

You know? Eating a meal that I completely KILLED and BUTCHERED and PLANTED and HARVESTED and COOKED MYSELF tastes even a little better than it sounds....

And I know tomorrow when my wife asks what I fixed, and teller her, oh, just some venison and Zucchini she'll get a funny look on her face and say "I'm so sorry, I should have FIXED you something you could have just heated up..."

I agree whole heartedly though. There is NOTHING better than wild game and home-grown vittles.

I try to buy "supermarket fresh", steroid enhanced, mad-cow infested junk as little as possible and find it far more pleasurable to kill and butcher my own.

As for the green stuff, I always find the time to make a run to my Momma's house on the weekends to pick up some garden fresh goodness. We've expanded her greenhouse three times in four years and her rose garden is slowly but surely turning more and more into a potato, turnip and carrot patch.

Anyone find it funny that I work in a supermarket produce department and still drive an hour each way to get some fresh from mom's garden? If so, you need to try REAL FRESH produce and you'll see why I do it.

The best part is in the fall when I bring a bag of spuds, turnip, and carrot with me and make a feed of "frying pan stew" right there at the campsite, over the campfire with the animal we shot THAT DAY be it caribou, moose or a few wascally wabbits. "Do it yourself meals" taste even better in the great outdoors.

Yeah, Bunny...I remember when the kids were small, and I had the duty on weekends when my wife worked...she'd say 'What are we going to have for dinner...?" and I'd always say "don't worry, I'll come up with something!" which always got me the "I don't trust you !" look before she left in the morning....

A Venison roast, some potatoes, carrots, onions and a little celery and whatever spices in her cupboard that interested me, maybe an onion soup mix or mushroom soup can if I could find it, if not, just a little water, some salt and LOTS of pepper...(I LIKE pepper! ) and a crockpot on low ....and the REST of the day I get to watch football and drink beer or play with the kids or whatever...she gets home, dinner is ready, use foam plates and there is like only the silverware and the pot to clean up! (screw global warming! )

Kids loved it, she begrudgingly would say it was "Ok... " and I could sit back with a S#!t eating look on my face that said "What, this homemaking stuff is supposed to be HARD?" Used to P--- her off!